Google smart speakers and displays accessibility overview

Use the built-in accessibility features of your speaker, display and the Google Home app to customise your smart home experience.

Contents

• Turn on your smart speaker or display's accessibility features
• Use cognitive, mobility and vision enhancement features
• Use your smart display's vision enhancement features
• Use your smart speaker or display's hearing enhancement features
• Use your smart display's interaction features

Turn on your smart speaker or display's accessibility features

Use the Google Home app on your phone or tablet to adjust accessibility settings for your speaker or display.

1. Make sure that your display and phone or tablet are linked to the same account.
2. Open the Google Home app ..
3. Tap Home  All devices , then tap your display's tile.
4. Tap Settings   Accessibility.
5. Change the settings as desired.

Use cognitive, mobility and vision enhancement features

Use voice assistant features to learn, control your home devices and listen to media. For more info, go to:

• Control your home devices by voice
• Explore what you can do with Google smart speakers and displays

Use your smart display's vision enhancement features

These features assist you if you have a visual impairment, from low vision to blindness.

Visual options in accessibility settings

• Colour correction: Adjust your smart display's colours using colour correction to help with colour blindness.
• Colour inversion: Your screen colours will be reversed. For example, you'll see white text on a black screen instead of black text on white.
• Magnify screen: Triple-tap your screen to magnify your display. Triple-tap and hold with one finger to temporarily enable the magnifier.

Audio options in accessibility settings

• Play start sound: You'll hear a sound when your smart display hears 'Hey Google' or 'Ok Google'.
• Play end sound: You'll hear a sound when your smart display finishes listening to your request.
• Audio descriptions: You'll hear descriptions of what's happening in your video.
  Tip: This only works if your video provides audio descriptions.
• Screen reader: Your smart display provides speech feedback when you tap your screen.
  Tip: This changes how your touchscreen and gestures work.

Use the screen reader on your smart display

When you turn on your screen reader, you can use gestures to navigate the screen and understand what's on it.

Turn on your screen reader

1. Make sure that your display and mobile device or tablet are linked to the same account.
2. Open the Google Home app .
3. Tap Home  All devices , then tap your display's tile.
4. Tap Settings   Accessibility.
5. Turn on Screen reader.

Find and read items on your current screen

• Explore items: Move one finger along your screen and you'll hear the highlighted item read aloud.
• Know what's on your screen: Tap your screen with one finger.
• Select the next item and read it: Swipe right with one finger.
• Select the previous item and read it: Swipe left with one finger.

Activate and interact with items on your screen

• Open or activate a selected item: Double-tap your screen with one finger.
• Secondary action on an item: Double-tap with one finger and then touch and hold on the second tap.
• Adjust a slider: When you select a slider, swipe up or down with one finger to move into slider adjust mode.
  • Swipe left or right with one finger to adjust the slider's value.
  • Swipe up or down to return into default navigation mode.

Go to a different screen or start ambient mode

• Go back to the previous screen: Swipe right with three fingers.
• Navigate between screens: Swipe left or right with three fingers.
• Return to home screen: From ambient mode, swipe left with three fingers.
• Start screensaver (ambient mode): From the home screen, swipe right with three fingers.

Access global settings or control panels

• Open Quick Settings: Swipe up with three fingers.
• Close Quick Settings: Swipe down with three fingers.
• Navigate to Home Control: Swipe down with three fingers.

Silence audio responses

• Silence your screen reader's speech: Touch and hold the screen with two fingers.
• Silence your voice assistant's speech: Touch and hold the screen with two fingers.

Use a screen reader for the Google Home app

The Google Home app is compatible with screen reader options on your phone or tablet.

Android phone or tablet

Turn on TalkBack, the Google screen reader service that's pre-installed on your Android device, to start spoken feedback immediately. If you don't have it, download it in the Google Play Store. Learn more about TalkBack.

iPhone or iPad

Use VoiceOver instead. For more info, go to Turn on and practise VoiceOver on iPhone.

Customise other visual settings for your display

Your smart display has other settings to help manage screen brightness and colour. Turn on Ambient EQ and Dark theme to reduce harsh glare and optimise contrast to prevent severe eye strain.

Learn more about Ambient EQ of your Google Nest display.

Learn more about Dark theme for Nest displays.

Use your smart speaker or display's hearing enhancement features

Enable these settings to experience better audio and communication from your smart speaker or display.

Turn on closed captioning

Your smart speaker or display can show real-time captions of spoken audio, dialogue and sound effects on any media that you're playing. Spoken responses from your Google Assistant, such as reading the weather or answering a question, can also be accompanied by on-screen captions.

1. Make sure that your display and mobile device or tablet are linked to the same account.
2. Open the Google Home app .
3. Tap Home  All devices , then tap your display's tile.
4. Tap Settings   Accessibility.
5. Turn on Closed captioning.
6. Turn Video content or Voice assistant's voice on to use captions for each feature. Additional settings include:
   • Font size: Adjust the font size or choose a custom size by tapping and moving the slider either left or right to adjust the text size.
   • Caption style: Choose between white on black, black on white, yellow on black, yellow on blue, cyan on black or custom. Custom style will allow you to adjust:
     • Font: Font type, font colour, font style and font opacity
     • Background: Background colour, background opacity
     • Window: Window colour, window opacity

You can also use voice commands. Say 'Hey Google' or 'Ok Google' then 'Turn on captions'.

Tip: You can only use captions on videos that have closed captioning.

Change sound settings

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Verify that the Google Account shown is the one linked to your Google device.
   • If correct, tap Close to exit the account window.
   • To switch accounts, tap the drop-down another account or Add another account.
3. Tap Home  All devices , then tap your display's tile.
4. Tap Settings   Audio.
5. Change the settings as desired.

Control volume

You can use your voice, touch controls or the Google Home app to control the volume on your Google smart speaker or display.

Use your smart display's interaction features

These features let you customise how you interact with your device.

Control your smart display

Use your Google Nest Hub or Nest Hub Max to play media, display photos, check the weather, customise widgets and enable features like Quick Gestures. Learn how to control your Google Nest display.

Use Look and Talk

Look at your nearby Google Nest Hub Max and your voice assistant will respond to your questions and commands without you saying, 'Hey Google'. Learn how to Look and Talk on Nest Hub Max.

Use Ultrasound Sensing

Turn on Ultrasound Sensing to simplify daily interactions such as having touch controls appear automatically when you're nearby. For more info, go to Turn on Ultrasound Sensing.

Related resources

• Control smart home devices added to the Google Home app
• Connect third-party smart home devices in the Google Home app
• Control your Google Nest display
• Listen to media on your Google smart speaker or display
• Set up your Google Nest or Home speaker or display